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I came careering down the piste at speed and skied slap-bang into some chap who stopped right in front of me. At the time I wasn't aware that I'd broken my left collarbone... following two weeks of immense boredom I was on the verge of insanity, and so when on a trip to my local village I found myself returning to my hotel not only with the bag of apples I'd set out to buy, but also with an Interail ticket, entitling me to free carriage on virtually any train in Europe for a month...
European Tales: Interrail trip around Europe, a lengthy tale
Joseph Tame2006-06-30 17:39:54
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the game. In these circumstances I felt like a criminal attempting to escape a country in which I'd been imprisoned. At one point I figured I'd never see home again in any case - it had been well over two hours since I'd reluctantly handed over my passport and other personal documents to some man whom I really didn't want to argue with. After what seemed like forever the train was allowed to move on- for two kilometers before the whole border-crossing affair was repeated, this time with the Romanian officials whom I found to be incredibly polite and courteous.
After the Communist government was overthrown in 1989, the Romanian economy virtually collapsed. Images of hundreds of babies and children packed into disgustingly filthy orphanages were flashed across our television screens. The poverty that we saw was unimaginable - especially considering that this was a European country that we were observing. Twelve years since the fall of the communist government I was now curious as to whether conditions had improved. At first, things looked quite promising. Soon after crossing the border I received a text message on my cell phone informing me that whilst in Romania I simply had to dial 3 digits in order to access my answerphone in England - for free! It's not even that simple in Switzerland (where it also costs an arm and a leg!). However, as the sun rose and the sky changed from deep pink to a rich golden yellow, so the impoverished frozen landscape emerged. Seldom did I see a motor vehicle - the donkey and cart were amongst the most popular methods of getting from A to B. It was not long after 6am when I opened my diary once again and began to write.
'The track upon which we roll is winding its way through a half-cultivated landscape. Narrow strips of land, perhaps 3 meters wide and a couple of hundred long have been ploughed: these frozen patches are broken up by short grey grass that shares the coating of frost.
...
See photographs from:
Bulgaria Gallery
,
France Gallery
,
Germany Gallery
,
Hungary Gallery
,
Italy Gallery
,
Romania Gallery
,
Turkey Gallery
,
United Kingdom Gallery
